Blog Post
At-Home Family Resources
Michelle Spencer • Apr 24, 2020
Original post 04/06/2020 - Updated 04/14/2020, 04/24/2020
At-Home Resources for Families
PEI Community Resources
- Parenting tips to manage COVID-19 social distancing guidelines: Cook Children’s has tons of resources for parenting during COVID-19. Check them out here.
- Water Safety Daily LIVE Broadcasts: Colin’s Hope is providing live broadcasts on water safety and virtual activities to children and families in the home. The risk of drowning increases while kids are at home and parents are working because supervision may change or lapse during this time.
- Additional Resources:
- Six Ways to Manage Zoom: Find the right balance between, self-care and managing the exhaustion from virtual meetings.
- New for Podcasts Listeners: Here are two great podcasts for your podcast list including the importance of long-term action steps with COVID-19 and community organizing to prevent violence.
The TEA
has launched a webpage
designed to provide at-home learning resources for parents, teachers and children - including students who receive special education services in school.
Colin’s Hope
is providing live broadcasts
on water safety and virtual activities to children and families in the home. The risk of drowning increases while kids are at home and parents are working because supervision may change or lapse during this time.
Parents can loosen up on screen time rules
during COVID-19. The benefits of technology
on children’s health, well-being, social and emotional outcomes and school achievement, depends less on time and more on the type of content they engage with when using a screen.
Additional Resources:
- There are a whole host of gyms and fitness centers streaming live workouts for everyone to enjoy. Here’s a great list of options to help you get started.
- Musicians are taking to social media to perform live concerts for their fans, which you can either live stream or watch recordings of. Billboard.com is regularly updating their list of these performances—check it out here.
- Chef Massimo Bottura is hosting engaging cooking classes live on Instagram each day. Tune in to see what this world-class chef can teach you!
The Texas Workforce Commission
encourages individuals previously deemed monetarily ineligible for unemployment benefits to reapply online starting Sunday, April 5, 2020. This date marks the beginning of a new quarter and as such the base period for unemployment benefits and those previously ineligible may now qualify.
The CDC has created a printable tip sheet
for children coping in disasters.
Texas Youth Helpline is for all family members
The Texas Youth Helpline
provides prevention services to youth, parents, siblings and other family members who are in need of a caring voice and sympathetic ear. Trained volunteers are on call to provide guidance on youth-related concerns, referral information or simply listen.
Employment affected by COVID-19
If your employment has been affected by the coronavirus, apply for benefits online at the Texas Workforce Commission
or by calling TWC’s Tele-Center at (800) 939-6631
from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. CST, Monday through Friday.
Article: That Discomfort You’re Feeling Is Grief
David Kessler, the world’s foremost expert on grief, shares his thoughts
on why it’s important to acknowledge the grief you may be feeling during the COVID-19 outbreak, how to manage it, and how he believes we will find meaning in it.
Parenting Resources
- Learning resource via YouTube by age, meant to augment existing learning and education
- Got kids? Try these 11 quick tips for working from home while they’re with you.
- 5 tips for effectively working from home during the coronavirus outbreak, when you have kids.
- Parenting During COVID-19: Rebecca Schrag Hershberg Ph.D. talks about her own family experiences as the mother of a 4- and 6-year old, and provides a bulleted list of concrete, actionable tips on how to navigate life at home as a family during quarantine. Parenting During COVID-19
Mealfinder Map
Texas parents can now visit the TXSchools.gov MealFinder Map
to find locations near them where local school systems are offering free school meals—both breakfast and lunch—for pick-up while school buildings are closed because of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). Once parents go to the site, they click “Meal Pick-Up Locations” to bring up a map of locations. Parents can type their address, and the map will zoom into meal pick-up locations that are up and running near them. Be sure to download this Waiver Letter
that allows parents to pick up meals.
Bright by Text
Bright by Text is a nationwide text messaging service that helps parents and caregivers of children prenatal to age eight make the most of everyday interactions. Through free tips, information, games, and resources, Bright by Text is proven to build nurturing caregiver-child relationships, strengthen families, promote healthy child development, and improve school readiness. Parents will receive 3-5 text messages per week with parenting tips, developmental information, literacy information, and educational activities.
To sign up: Text “#Texaskids” to 274448 or Sign up online.
2-1-1 Texas, a program of the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, is committed to helping Texas citizens connect with the services they need. Information available in English and Spanish.
A similar resource is AuntBertha.com. (Additional languages are available.) Aunt Bertha has added a zip code search
to find food assistance, help in paying bills, and other free or reduced cost programs for the COVID-19 pandemic. Visit https://findhelp.org/.
These are great resources to provide to your families that may need additional services.
The Texas Department of State Health Services Coronavirus Information Page:
has many helpful resources throughout the entire website to help you in your response to COVID 19.
Resources for Kids at Home
Working from home with kids may feel unsustainable. Here’s some resources to ease the burden.
The Living Montessori YouTube channel
has videos about Montessori’s Exercises for Practical Life.
Go on a digital field trip
to the National Gallery of Art, The Olympic Museum, the Palace of Versailles, national parks and much, much more by perusing the collections on Google Arts & Culture
and Google Maps.
Additional Resources:
- The Dallas World Aquarium, Monterey Bay Aquarium and the San Diego Zoo have live animal cams you can watch to see your favorite animals. Best of all, the cams are totally free to watch!
- Need some ideas on how to keep your children engaged in learning while also entertained? Scholastic Learn at Home is offering free access to its projects for children grades Pre-K through 9.
CommonBytes COVID-19 Resource Page, which includes:
- Lesson Plans
- Videos
- Games
- Activities/Worksheets
- Reading List
- Join the Google Classroom for Small Bites Program
- Sign up for weekly email updates for educators and parents
- See updates from school districts and community partners on social media, including Twitter and Instagram feeds (see the “COVID-19 Help” Instastory Highlight)
Coronavirus: free printable comic for kids
Author and illustrator Elise Gravel created a comic to teach kids
about the COVID-19 situation. You can download and print it for educational purposes. No commercial use is allowed.
COVID Time Capsule
Natalie Long is a graphic designer and mom from Canada. She created "My 2020 COVID-19 Time Capsule" worksheets as a way for her now eight-year-old daughter, Olivia to keep track of what is happening day-to-day. Long shared the worksheets on her Facebook page, making them available to the public. The 11-page document consists of various activities like interviewing parents, listing favorite foods and writing a letter to themselves.
Additional Resources:
- More than 30 Virtual Field Trips
- A guide for fun inside series: Week 1, Week 2, Week 3, Week 4
- Writing Prompts for elementary school students
- 14 Easy Recipes for cooking with kids
- 10 Favorite Art Activities for Kids in quarantine
Minecraft Marketplace Offering New Programs for Kids
Twelve free educational programs are launching through the Minecraft Marketplace. Topics include:
- A NASA-approved, student-built project that invites students to tour the International Space Station, complete with experiments
- Exploring the human eye
- Logic puzzle games to teach students how to code and think like programmers
- A tour of D.C.'s most historical sites, including the Lincoln Memorial, the White House and the Pentagon
- A tower game that teaches students about power generation from different sources like wind and nuclear
Books and E-Books about COVID-19 for Children
KQED has compiled a list of age-appropriate books, videos and lesson plans that teachers and parents can use to help young people understand COVID-19 and its effects. Visit KQED to learn more.
Aspen Academy
Aspen Academy
is offering a compilation of family-friendly virtual tours, stories, music, exercise, story times, and other activities. Visit them online.
First Pathways is offering instructional videos of age-appropriate activities
that require only simple household items and can be played almost anywhere.
Mindheart.com is offering an online download of COVIBOOK: supporting and reassuring children around the world
- the book is an invitation for families to discuss the full range of emotions arising from the current situation.
Other Resources
- 75+ Entertaining and Educational Activities for when you’re stuck indoors
- Sesame Workshop PSA on handwashing featuring Elmo and Cookie Monster
Additional Resources
- Coronavirus Information for Child Welfare Professionals: General health information from Child Welfare League of America
- Utilizing Telehealth during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Telehealth resources to support home visiting services to families
- Be Strong Families Website: Resources to stay strong and positive based on each of the protective factors.
- Webinar: How to Craft Messages Parents will Read: Ready4K is here to help you activate parents in at-home learning.
Frog Jumping, Chicken Dancing, Endangered Species, and more - you're in for a wild ride this week.
Nurses, Teachers, and Star Wars? Check out what we have in store for this week.
Babe Ruth, Bugs Bunny, and baking. We've got a smorgasbord of fun for you this week!
Need more interesting ideas of what to do with your spare time? Try these out!
Earth Day, Fishing Friday---have we got fun in store for you! Find out more.
Bird watching, Simon says, salt dough and more. Check out all the fun in store for this week!
Pets, Puppets, and Letters. Check out the great fun we have planned for this week!
We hope you enjoyed our fun from week 1. Check out what we have lined up for week 2!
The Social Media Challenge is on! Check with us weekly for fun activities to do from home, then post daily and show us how you're doing.